Tagged: Michael Richards

As everyone has learned by now, Michael Richards (aka “Cosmo Kramer”) went into an insane racial tirade on November 17th at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California after being heckled. In a failed attempt at gaining control of his act Richards shouted, “Shut up! Fifty years ago we’d have you upside-down with a fucking fork up your ass!” After this blatant reference to the “good ‘ole days” of lynching, he escalated the situation by screaming, “Throw his ass out. He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! A nigger! Look, there’s a nigger!” The video has to be seen to be believed. Multiple copies have been posted on YouTube, resulting in thousands of comments from viewers.

Monday night, Jerry Seinfeld appeared on Late Night with David Letterman to support his friend. Richards apologized for his behaviour via satellite.

…You know, I’m really busted up over this and I’m very, very sorry to those people in the audience, the blacks, the Hispanics, whites – everyone that was there that took the brunt of that anger and hate and rage and how it came through, and I’m concerned about more hate and more rage and more anger coming through, not just towards me but towards a black/white conflict. There’s a great deal of disturbance in this country and how blacks feel about what happened in Katrina, and, you know, many of the comics, many of performers are in Las Vegas and New Orleans trying to raise money for what happened there, and for this to happen, for me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, you know, I’m deeply, deeply sorry.

Yes, of course he’s “very, very sorry.” I don’t buy it though, the video speaks for itself. It is a display of hate and rage – vicious, elitist, childish – and thoroughly rancid in nature. One can picture him at a KKK rally, in exactly the same frenzied state, instigating a lynching.

Bro. Michael A. Richards, 33°

Richards’ conduct might ultimately stem from his association with Freemasonry. There’s a controversy going on right now in the South, whether to officially recognize Prince Hall Masonry. In his convoluted apology on Letterman, Richards inserted a reference to the racial tension (“black/white conflict”) in the wake of Katrina. Perhaps it’s a Freudian slip, alluding to the Dixie Lodges’ struggle to come to terms with its own racial divide. As a very active and high-ranking Mason, Richards is most likely privy to the ongoing discussions taking place behind the scenes.